SR Holguin, PC is a union-side labor and employment law firm with nearly four decades of experience representing private sector unions, public sector unions, and multi-employer trust funds. SR Holguin, PC is committed to providing full-service legal representation to each of our clients.
One way in which SR Holguin, PC ensures our clients and their members stay informed is by keeping you updated on recent developments relating to workers’ rights. Today’s updates come ahead of the California Labor Laws Taking Effect on January 1, 2022.
- Workers Who Could be Impacted: Workers Throughout California
California State Senate Bill (SB) 606 was authored by Senator Lena Gonzalez (33rd Senate District- Long Beach).
“Existing law gives the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, within the Department of Industrial Relations, [(Cal/OSHA)] the power, jurisdiction, and supervision over every employment and place of employment in [California,] which is necessary to adequately enforce and administer all laws requiring that employment and places of employment be safe, and requiring the protection of the life, safety, and health of every employee in that employment or place of employment.”
Existing law requires Cal/OSHA “to issue a citation for a violation of provisions relating to the spraying of asbestos, or any standard, rule, order, or regulation established pursuant to…the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973 if, upon inspection or investigation, [Cal/OSHA] believes that an employer has committed a violation. Existing law imposes penalties of certain maximum amounts depending on whether the violation is serious, uncorrected, or willful or repeated. Existing law authorizes [Cal/OSHA] to seek an injunction restraining certain uses or operations of employment that constitute a serious menace to the lives or safety of persons.”
Effective January 1, 2022, SB 606 will “create a rebuttable presumption that a violation committed by an employer that has multiple worksites is enterprise-wide if the employer has a written policy or procedure that violates these provisions…or [Cal/OSHA] has evidence of a pattern or practice of the same violation committed by that employer involving more than one of the employer’s worksites.”
SB 606 will “authorize [Cal/OSHA] to issue an enterprise-wide citation requiring enterprise-wide abatement if the employer fails to rebut such a presumption.” SB 606 will “subject an enterprise-wide violation to the same penalty provision as willful or repeated violations.” SB 606 will require Cal/OSHA “to issue a citation for an egregious violation…for each willful and egregious violation… [and will] require each instance of an employee exposed to that violation to be considered a separate violation for purposes of the issuance of fines and penalties.”
2. Workers Who Could be Impacted: Public Employees Throughout California
California State Assembly Bill (AB) 237 was authored by Assemblymember Adam Gray (21st Assembly District- Merced).
Effective January 1, 2022, AB 237 will “enact the Public Employee Health Protection Act, which would make it an unfair practice for [any public employer that offers health care or other medical coverage for nonoccupational injuries or illness to its employees]…to fail or refuse to maintain or pay for continued health care or other medical coverage for an enrolled employee or their enrolled dependents, for the duration of the enrolled employee’s participation in the authorized strike, at the level and under the conditions that coverage would have been provided if the employee had continued to work in their position for the duration of the strike.”
AB 237 will “also make it an unfair practice for a covered employer to fail to collect and remit the employee’s contributions, if any, to this coverage, or to maintain any policy purporting to authorize an action prohibited…or otherwise threaten an employee or their dependents’ continued access to health or medical care during or as a result of the employee’s participation in a strike.” AB 237 will “require the restoration of health or other medical care premiums, contributions, or out-of-pocket expenses actually paid by the employee or their dependents as a result of the employer’s violation of this provision, or because the employer failed to ensure continued coverage during a strike, and w[ill] require other equitable adjustments to ensure that the employee and their dependents are made whole.”
3. Workers Who Could be Impacted: Garment Workers Throughout California
SB 62 was authored by Senator María Elena Durazo (24th Senate District- Los Angeles).
Effective January 1, 2022, “an employee engaged in the performance of garment manufacturing shall not be paid by the piece or unit, or by the piece rate. Employees engaged in the performance of garment manufacturing shall be paid at an hourly rate not less than the applicable minimum wage…any garment manufacturer or contractor who violates [the requirement to pay an hourly rate] shall be subject to compensatory damages of two hundred dollars ($200) per employee for each pay period in which each employee is paid by the piece rate.”
Importantly, SB 62 “shall not apply to workplaces where employees are covered by a bona fide collective bargaining agreement [(CBA)], if the agreement expressly provides for wages, hours of work, and working conditions of the employees; premium wage rates for all overtime hours worked and a regular hourly rate of pay for those employees of not less than 30 percent more than the state minimum wage; stewards or monitors; and a process to resolve disputes concerning nonpayment of wages.”
4. Workers Who Could be Impacted: Workers With Disabilities Throughout California
SB 639 was authored by Senator María Elena Durazo (24th Senate District- Los Angeles).
“Under existing law, the Industrial Welfare Commission is authorized to issue a special license to a nonprofit organization such as a sheltered workshop or rehabilitation facility to permit the employment of disabled employees who the commission has determined meet the requirements for paying less than the state minimum wage without requiring individual licenses of those employees. Existing law requires the commission to fix a special minimum wage for those employees, subject to renewal.”
Existing law allows “[f]or any occupation in which a minimum wage has been established, the [Industrial Welfare Commission] may issue to an employee who is mentally or physically disabled, or both, a special license authorizing the employment of the licensee for a period not to exceed one year from date of issue, at a wage less than the legal minimum wage. The commission shall fix a special minimum wage for the licensee. That license may be renewed on a yearly basis.” Pursuant to SB 639, no new licenses may be issued effective January 1, 2022.
Pursuant to SB 639, effective “January 1, 2025, or when…a multiyear phaseout plan to pay any employee with a disability…no less than the state minimum…is released, [SB 639 will] prohibit an employee with a disability from being paid less than the legal minimum wage or the applicable local minimum wage ordinance, whichever is higher.”
5. Workers Who Could be Impacted: Warehouse Distribution Workers Throughout California
AB 701 was authored by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (80th Assembly District- San Diego).
Effective January 1, 2022, AB 701 will “require specified employers to provide to each employee…who works at a warehouse distribution center, upon hire, or within 30 days of [January 1, 2022,] with a written description of each quota to which the employee is subject, including the quantified number of tasks to be performed, or materials to be produced or handled, within the defined time period, and any potential adverse employment action that could result from failure to meet the quota.”
AB 701 “provide[s] that an employee shall not be required to meet a quota that prevents compliance with meal or rest periods, use of bathroom facilities, or occupational health and safety laws.” AB 701 “prohibit[s] an employer from taking adverse action against an employee for failure to meet a quota that has not been disclosed or for failure to meet a quota that does not allow a worker to comply with meal or rest periods or occupational health and safety laws.” AB 701 “require[s] that any action taken by an employee to comply with occupational health and safety laws or division standards be considered time on task and productive time for the purposes of any quotas or monitoring system.”
6. Workers Who Could be Impacted: Food Delivery Workers Throughout California
AB 286 was authored by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (80th Assembly District- San Diego).
Effective January 1, 2022, AB 286 will “make it unlawful for a food delivery platform to retain any portion of amounts designated as a tip or gratuity. The bill would require a food delivery platform to pay any tip or gratuity for a delivery order, in its entirety, to the person delivering the food or beverage, and to pay any tip or gratuity for a pickup order, in its entirety, to the food facility.”
We hope these updates are helpful to you.
Fraternally,
SR Holguin, PC